University of the People Opening All Its Courses to Ukrainian Students for Free

American Online University Offers “Educational Lifeline” to Ukrainians

PASADENA, CA (February 22, 2022) – Following a request by the Ukrainian Ministry of Education, University of the People (UoPeople) is opening all of its courses to Ukrainian students whose universities have closed due to the Russian invasion to enable them to continue their studies uninterrupted online. To provide Ukrainians with hope for a better future once the invasion has ended, UoPeople also is providing 1,000 scholarships for students from Ukraine, including those who have fled their country, so they can continue their education.

UoPeople’s accessible and flexible online degree programs are asynchronous, meaning students can study whenever and wherever they may be. Moreover, only a basic internet connection is needed for its courses – no broadband is required. UoPeople will begin accepting these students in its next academic term which starts April 7.

“The people of Ukraine are suffering tremendously due to the Russian invasion, and we want to provide them with educational lifelines so they know they will have a future when the fighting ends,” said UoPeople President Shai Reshef. “As an online institution, UoPeople is like a university in a box that students can take with them anywhere in the world – even if they have to flee their country.”

“I’m paralyzed with fear. This is our sixth day in a bomb shelter. Air raids happen every hour. The Russian troops are only 50 kilometers from my city,” said UoPeople graduate student Kateryna Glubochenko, a mother of a 10-year-old and who is eight months pregnant, in an email. “As for my studies, I will try to continue them while I still have an internet connection. This is the only way for me to calm down a bit and still believe I will survive all this. Studying at UoPeople is a kind of hope for me now.”

As the number of Ukrainians fleeing their homeland surpasses three million and continues to grow by the hour, they will join more than 84 million other refugees and displaced persons around the globe, according to the UNHCR. The UN reports that only 5% of refugees worldwide have access to higher education. Without the ability to earn a college degree and find meaningful employment, most refugees have little hope that their futures, and the futures of their families, will ever improve.

UoPeople, the first non-profit, tuition-free, American, accredited online university, currently serves more than 117,000 students from 200 countries including 10,500 refugees – more than all other U.S. colleges and universities combined. The refugees come from Syria, Afghanistan, Myanmar, Nigeria, Sudan, and many other nations.

UoPeople also helps non-traditional students who have no other options to earn an accredited college degree due to financial, political, geographic, or personal constraints. To ensure that Afghan women continue to have access to higher education following the Taliban’s takeover, UoPeople has granted more than 1,000 scholarships to Afghan women so they can continue their education “underground” studying online from the safety of their homes. More than 8,000 Afghan women have applied for the scholarships to date and over 1,600 are currently enrolled.

UoPeople does not charge any tuition or enrollment fees and all course materials are available online for free. The university does charge a $60 application fee and a nominal assessment fee of $120 at the end of each undergraduate course and $240 for its graduate-level courses.

The scholarships for Ukrainian students will cover all costs for associate, bachelor’s or master’s degree programs at UoPeople. Students can apply for the scholarships online.

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About University of the People

University of the People (UoPeople) is the Education Revolution. It is the first non-profit, tuition-free, American, accredited online university. Currently there are over 117,000 students from more than 200 countries and territories. Designed to open access to higher education globally, UoPeople helps qualified high school graduates overcome financial, geographic, political, and personal constraints keeping them from collegiate studies. The university offers associate and bachelor’s degree programs in business administration, computer science, and health science, as well as an MBA and M.Ed. program. Graduates of UoPeople can be found working at such companies as Deloitte, Amazon, Apple, Pfizer, Google, Microsoft and IBM. UoPeople collaborates with Harvard Business School Online, New York University, McGill University, and the University of Edinburgh and has been supported by foundations such as the Gates Foundation, Ford Foundation and Hewlett Foundation. Learn more at www.uopeople.edu.